Squads Named For First Week Of Victorian Visit

The preseason is starting to swing into full gear with NPL Victoria clubs Hume City FC, Bentleigh Greens and Pascoe Vale FC set to provide a stern test for local NPL TAS sides South Hobart and Hobart Zebras as they visit over the next 3 weekends to play friendlies against the clubs.

First up is Hume City FC who will take on South Hobart this Friday Night (January 19) at 6pm at Darcy Street before playing the following evening against Hobart Zebras at 5pm. South Hobart will play a second game against Beachside FC at 2pm as part of a double header at Darcy Street in what should be an entertaining afternoon of high quality football.

The squads have been announced for those games that will offer both clubs a great chance to test themselves against high calibre opposition as they ramp up their preparation for the 2018 season. Whilst results are largely irrelevant in preseason fixtures, performance counts for plenty. There are positions up for grabs in both starting line ups and with South Hobart set to lose some players from their title winning side, their burgeoning brigade of young prospects will be out to stake a claim.

For Zebras it will be an early look at how they look to play under new manager Gabriel Markaj as well as a first glimpse at a potential Sklenar/Sanders strike partnership that looks so exciting on paper.

There is at least one familiar face in the Hume City squad, with reigning Mitsubishi Medalist and former Hobart Zebras star Nichol Groenewold set to line up in the heart of defence for his new club and make a sooner than expected return to Tasmania.

Hume won’t be the only Victorian based side to come down, with powerhouse Bentleigh Greens set to tour the following weekend, taking on South Hobart on the Firday night before meeting Zebras on the Saturday. The week after that, South Hobart will play Pascoe Vale FC in the final of the friendlies against the Victorian clubs.

With the Victorian NPL competition starting earlier than the Tasmanian competition, Hume will be at a more advanced stage of their preseason and have defeated Pascoe Vale 1-0 and drawn 2-2 against Altona FC over the past week. For South Hobart and Zebras, this will be their second hit out of the new year, after South convincingly won the clash between the two clubs last weekend 6-0 albeit with both sides fielding weakened squad.

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The appetite for a professional sporting franchise down here remains as ravenous as ever. Tasmanian’s love their sport and they have been starved of representation in National competitions, looked over time after time. The AFL clearly won’t be the ones to sate that hunger, thus FFA finds itself with the chance to both fill that gap in the market and strike a blow against the AFL in one fell swoop.